


Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

by jillyfae



Series: Façades [3]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Character Death, Epilogue, Friendship, Gen, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-02-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 19:13:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frequently the best stories aren't, strictly speaking, completely accurate.  For many reasons, some of them complimentary and some of them contradictory.  And sometimes just to be contrary.  Varric always learns the truth, however, whether he tells it to anyone else or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KyeShgall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeShgall/gifts).



There were a lot of things Varric left out of his stories about the Champion.  
  
Merrill's final act of blood magic, a surge of earth and vines that held the Knight-Commander and her statues still just long enough to save the rest of them.  
  
They'd buried her on the edge of the Planasene, a cutting of Kirkwall's _vhenadahl_ planted above her heart.  Somewhere over the years Isabela had learned the song they liked to sing, and so she did, her voice rough and low and beautiful, though they all suspected if Merrill had been there she'd have corrected her pronunciation.  
  
But she wasn't, which was unfortunately the point.  
  
Even Fenris bowed his head, and said something in tevene that didn't actually sound like swearing.  
  
Varric couldn't quite stand the thought of someone who didn't know her, didn't love her, thinking Daisy had failed, had succumbed the way so many mages did, when truly she'd surpassed them all, giving everything to save her friends.  
  
Besides, it protected more than just her memory to claim they'd all scattered after that battle against Meredith, strewn far about Thedas, impossible to find with only hints of stories to follow.  
  
Or so he hoped.  
  
Most of the rest of the omissions wouldn't have mattered to anyone else, tales about the elf's growing friendships and Daisy's unexpected wisdoms and Rivaini's hidden kindnesses.  
  
The Seeker wasn't interested in any of them, after all, just Hawke.  
  
As if Killer could've been The Champion without her friends.  
  
As if Kirkwall could've survived as long as it did without the Guard Captain and the Healer.    
  
Though obviously it would've prefered Blondie had stayed in Darktown, what with his remarkable skill at breaking everything he'd helped to put together.  
  
Varric sighed, let his fingers settle along Bianca's stock, fingers stroking the wood for comfort.  That was never going to stop hurting, memories and maybes.  
  
 _If only we'd known what to do sooner.  If only we could've helped._  
  
But if wishes were horses, even dwarves would ride.  
  
Varric snorted.  
  
Only thing he hated more than horses were ships.  Which made planning a long trip a bit trying, so it was probably just as well he wasn't going anywhere this year, not with the Seeker keeping an eye on him.  
  
He had so wanted to be there when the twins were born.  
  
But after going to all the trouble of avoiding talking much about Choir Boy without making it sound like he was hiding something, Varric couldn't very well ruin the tale now.  
  
It had been easy enough to sound dismissive of a feckless nobleman in their midst, after all.  Tethras was famous for his dislike of Hightown.    
  
The Seeker wasn't as smart as she thought she was, to have fallen for it, to not have heard how well Vael had fought with Hawke, to not have noticed how good a job the former Brother was doing now as Prince, Starkhaven one of the few places left that was almost stable.  
  
Though that probably had as much to do with Choir Boy's excellent taste in friends and family as in the man himself.    
  
 _He listens to my advice, after all._  
  
The Seeker would probably head to Starkhaven eventually, Choir Boy being the only other one of Hawke's former associates with a known address, but hopefully Varric had managed to distract her enough she wouldn't look too closely at anyone else there.  
  
He always described Aveline as small and dark, a typical Orlesian mutt.  Made the swing of her sword more of a surprise later on in the tale, after all.  And made the giant-red-headed walking shield wall obviously someone else entirely.  
  
Broody was always large and broad, startlingly so for an elf.  Varric had to include the lyrium, of course, so he exaggerated it, swirls and glows and a shine even through armor, a power that could not be contained, would make skin twitch and hands shake and eyes shine.  
  
As if he'd be any use at all as a bodyguard if he couldn't hide when necessary.  Danarius had been an evil bastard, but he hadn't been _stupid_.  
  
Captain Isabela and The Champion herself were, of course, a bit too distinctive to allow such a simple sleight of hand in the stories, but he trusted they could take care of themselves on Thedosian seas.  Not even qunari could hold them, after all.    
  
The important one, as always, was Sunshine.  She had to fade into the background, sweet and soft and lost when the Gallows fell, or someday someone might very well recognize an apostate mage hiding in plain sight as the Princess of Starkhaven and try and do something about it, and Vael was nothing if not a little unreasonable when it came to Sunshine's safety.  
  
Which was really one of the things that had finally endeared the man to Varric, so he should try and avoid causing trouble.  
  
He missed them though.  And one of the few things that could get Rivaini off her ship was a trip up the Minanter to spoil Killer's young niece rather mercilessly, and he was going to miss all the fun, sitting in Kirkwall distracting the followers of the Divine's Will.  
  
But that was the job he'd made for himself, so he'd survive.  He'd just have to plan a little extra treat for young Revka Meghan Vael whenever he got free, since he was quite sure everyone would be fussing over the new babies once they were born.  
  
He'd heard Sunshine had been put on bedrest, twins being a bit more likely to be troublesome, and her not being able to argue that being a healing mage meant she had a better handle on her babies than the midwife.  
  
Aveline's letter implied she'd been quite put out, in fact, and there had perhaps been a number of books thrown at the Palace Healer's head at the suggestion.  In order to save their library, Choir Boy had apparently moved his office into the sitting room of their quarters, so she didn't get too bored, and all his advisors had to present everything to the both of them.  
  
Which drove the elf nuts, so many people in what used to be the most secure set of rooms in the Keep, but even he agreed that it was worth it.  Broody was quite possibly counting the days 'til the due date even more carefully than Sunshine herself, however.  
  
They were doing so very well.  Better than any of them could have expected during those long six years when she was locked behind stone walls and Kirkwall slowly went insane.  
  
So Varric never mentioned Hawke's visits to her sister at the Gallows, regular as the moon.  And as the only person left who could enlighten anyone was the Knight-Captain who'd let Bethany walk away, he didn't think Cullen would spoil it.  
  
Varric certainly never even hinted at the greetings Choir Boy had sometimes asked Hawke to pass along, to the woman he'd met back when he thought his whole life would always be held within the Grand Cathedral's walls.  
  
His startlingly blood-soaked proposal in the Gallow's courtyard had luckily not been witnessed by anyone besides Varric and Killer, and they'd even managed to convince the two of them to stop kissing before anyone else showed up.  
  
Rivaini was still pouting that she'd missed it.  
  
Hawke had been the one to stand up to Cullen and drag her sister away with them when they fled Kirkwall, so even if the Knight-Captain had seen the way Choir Boy stood too close, the brush of fingers when Sunshine almost reached out to touch, he'd been smart enough to pretend he hadn't.  
  
Surprisingly good man, that Cullen.  Varric was careful to edit him almost all the way out of the stories as well.  Just in case.  He had enough trouble cleaning up the Gallows and taking care of the few Tranquil and mages who'd stayed after all the phylacteries had been destroyed, he didn't need anyone asking him about the Champion.  
  
Varric never got to tell anyone about the wedding, which was a shame, it had been lovely, if simple, the two of them in front of the Cathedral in Cumberland.  She'd signed her name Bethany Amell, just another cousin, no direct connection to the Champion at all, with whispered apologies to her father's memory, though from all accounts Malcolm Hawke would have understood, and they'd let the Priest provide witnesses from their regular congregation so no one else's name could make a trail back to Kirkwall.  
  
Varric was rather sure Isabela had intended the Inn she'd found for their wedding night to just be, well, for a night, but they'd refused to leave the room for almost five days, and considering the whole _seven years apart_ thing, no one had quite had the heart to kick them out.  
  
Though the horrified look on Hawke's face when she realized she'd over-heard her baby sister having sex on the way down to breakfast on day three was something Varric rather wished he could attempt to describe in every story he ever told, because it was priceless.  
  
Rivaini's offer that "at least it sounds like it's spectacular sex" had been strangely unhelpful in regards to Hawke's peace of mind.  
  
Aveline and Fenris had both had trouble not snickering, and Varric and Donnic hadn't even tried to stop their laughter.  The elf's follow-up that Bethany was usually quiet, so they were probably quite happy together, had made the entire table still, Killer's eyes narrowed as she glared.  Fenris was oddly undisturbed by her expression, and he refused to expand on that particular observation in the slightest, eyes wide and posture completely at ease as he drank his morning tea.  
  
Drove Varric nuts, it did, realizing there'd apparently been a lot to Sunshine he'd completely missed, too busy wanting to protect her apparent innocence.  Hawke had obviously been having the same trouble.  
  
They'd shared a drink that night, after everyone else had wandered off to bed or cards, toasting their memories of the young girl they'd both thought they'd known.    
  
"Underestimated her something fierce, didn't I?"  Hawke's voice had been thick, her eyes almost glassy.  They'd been on bottle two, by then.  He'd thought.  Counting was tricky, sometimes.  
  
"Think she went out of her way to help you with that."  It took a little longer than usual to form the sentence, but he'd managed.  "Think we did the same to Choir Boy?"  
  
"Yeah."  She'd sighed, finished her drink.  "Think they'll be happy?"  
  
"I think they've earned the right to try."  It had been Varric's turn to sigh, staring at the way the firelight got caught in the thin line of amber lingering at the bottom of his glass.  "Have to make sure to keep them out of your stories, so no one comes looking too closely."  
  
"Hmm."  She'd agreed, one last clink of their glasses before they'd both staggered off to their separate rooms.  
  
He was rather sure none of them would have made it through that year, grief and chaos and fire and soot, if not for that interlude in Cumberland, something happy, something silly, a few too many drinks each night.  
  
And if he could tell a good enough story to the Seeker, she'd never find them, and they'd never lose the peace they'd fought so hard to find.

**Author's Note:**

> As the original prompt (and sequel request) for this slightly cracky/AU Bethany/Sebastian tale was from the ever lovely [kyeshgall](http://kyeshgall.tumblr.com), it seemed only fitting that I close off their tale with an epilogue from her favorite dwarf. We do love Varric ever so much. <3 Hope you liked it. :)


End file.
